Sounds like a skeletal injury more than muscular, at least from the mechanism you described. I'd ditto on clearing it through a doctor, if only to be safe. If it ends up being muscular and along the rib cage, you could always have problems if you don't let up completely for a few weeks.

I've trained through injury before, with both good and bad results. These days I'll call up a physical therapist to get advice. I'm one of those morons who will self-destructively keep working through an injury regardless of efficacy, so I require a third person perspective to know if I'm doing the right thing. Hope everything heals up okay.

Why limit problems with emotion and immaturity to stylistic martial arts? They're a problem in every facet of life that involves dealing with other human beings. Get over it.

It's your life to live, living it wisely or not.

Why do I need to swallow my pride? I see my physiotherapist on a weekly basis at the moment, and he has cleared me to train numerous times. I took two months off training, and the injury has healed up considerably, just not completely at this point. I don't see pride as having anything to do with the fact that I am still training.

One, doctors don't know everything. A lot of times they're worse than auto mechanics in diagnosing a problem. As George Carlin would say, "It's all guess work in a white coat." Two, pride has much to do with it, but again it's your life. Ever watch the documentary The 'Smashing Machine'? You could learn a thing from Mark Kerr.

Kungfoolss, Scourge of the theory-based stylists, Most Feared man at Bullshido.com, and the Preeminent Force in the martial arts political arena

Personaly i would litsten to the docter,he does now what he's talking about,and if you dont trust it get a second opinion or go to a fysiotherapist or a ceasarthearapist,they wil know for sure because body mechanics is their work i dont think you can say they are just guessing..

That's exactly it. I live my life the way I feel is wise. I take input from various sources, mentors and friends, consider their advice, and act upon it.

At the moment, I'm improving my Jiu Jitsu to the extent that my body is physically able to, with the welcome help and encouragement of my training partners, family, friends and medical professional. I don't feel like I'm making a mistake with my life, and my ribs are recovering more and more each week.

Would I be this happy all this time, I'd leave this mortal coil very satisfied with my life.

One, doctors don't know everything. A lot of times they're worse than auto mechanics in diagnosing a problem. As George Carlin would say, "It's all guess work in a white coat." Two, pride has much to do with it, but again it's your life. Ever watch the documentary The 'Smashing Machine'? You could learn a thing from Mark Kerr.

Firstly, I trust my physiotherapist/s. The two I most often see have treated a number of professional athletes, as well as members of the Australian Olympic team from 1992 onwards. Whilst I am better aware than most that these credentials, impressive as they are, do not imply possession of all knowledge regarding the human body, they have succeeded in fixing my body up in the past from a number of nasty injuries.

Secondly, I haven't seen 'The Smashing Machine' but I still fail to see what this has to do with pride. I haven't needed to take a painkiller or anti-inflammatory in a month, I'm not actually training in pain, as the movements that cause me pain are only experienced when twisting in certain positions (under side-control, north-south), which I don't work. Instead, I submit when my opponent gets into the aforementioned problematic positions, no matter who they are.

Often a minor injury can cause you to train in a different manner. This can result in significant improvement in parts of your game you normally neglect. I have a minor neck injury that will not fully heal, due to carrying my 7 month old son around constantly, not due to training. It has caused me to emphasize my guard training which has improved tremendously.

As long as a qualified health professional that you trust has given you the go ahead, and you are not in significant pain during training or the next day, I think training around an injury can be very helpful if it causes you to develop the weak areas of your game. The only other caveat being that you train with someone who is aware of, and respects your injury.

The only other caveat being that you train with someone who is aware of, and respects your injury.

so true - not everyone will be able to accomodate you for various reasons such as lack of control, too much ego, too impatient, etc. Also, you should accomodate the people who are willing to work with you by being considerate. Like if there's not enough room on the mats during randori/rolling, you should be the first one to step off because you're injured and other players can use that time more effectively than you. Or, you let your partner work on more drills with you as uke than vice-versa.

I have a similar problem with a rib. I cannot work the guard or have any weight on top of my chest. Because of this I have been doing tons of rep work. I have also done some light live drilling trying to pass the guard of my training partners. If I get swept, my partner knows not to mount or assume side control.

I am getting better at passing the guard. My training partners are great and generous with their time in drilling with me.

The issue is when someone fucks up. Normally when things get out of hand for whatever reason you catch a minor injury. When I leave the gym, my muscles are torn up, I'm scratched and bruised and I've probably lost use of a few small joints. Now, those aren't intentional injuries and I do my best to avoid them, but they ALWAYS happen. Last thing I want is a weakened part that can't withstand serious damage.

Already addressed this but I'll expand a bit - you MUST choose your partners carefully and limit not just yourself but your opponent's behavior whether that behavior is from habit/ego/whatever. If you can't do this, or your partners/opponents can't, you have no business training with the injury. If you're the type that always get injured, albeit unintentionally, maybe you need to sit back and let stuff heal. On the otherhand, if you're the type who knows how to train and drill lightly and has like-minded partners, then maybe you can train in a limited manner - You'd be insane to try to go 100%.

There are other factors to consider: In some dojos/gyms, it's just not possible to train while injured because of the personal attitudes/goals of the place, i.e. some places attract those who always train at high intensity and it would be unsafe for you to train and would also create much tension with everyone else - why? Because while YOU can train injured and while YOU know what's wrong with YOU an what YOU can and can't do, everyone else doesn't. This adds a helluva lot of stress to your training partners and coach/instructor to know you're injured but not know how much you can take safetly - who wants to be the guy that really fucked up your already fucked-up body part?

So yeah, think about why you want to train while injured and if it's a smart idea not just for you but for your training partners/coaches - it probably isn't but it might be - depends on you, depends on your coach/instructor and depends on the other people there.Training while injured can be pretty selfish - why should the other people training accomodate your gimp-ass? You're only slowing them down. Sit and watch or stay home.

I was lucky enough to be in a situation where I could train injured, but I did a lot more watching than playing and I really appreciated that people were willing to accomodate my injury and go light with me and I returned the favor by not taking up healthy players' randori time, and not ambushing players with fullspeed attacks that I knew I could perform safely.